Orlando International Drive North Hotel — Hotel in Orlando

UPDATED REVIEW AFTER MY STAY:

I stayed at the Orlando International Drive North Hotel starting July 6, 2025, and unfortunately, my experience was deeply disappointing. Check-in was quick and easy, with a friendly front desk clerk who offered me a free cookie (a nice touch, as free cookies are available in the lobby). However, this was the highlight of my stay.

I was first assigned Room 347, a duplex on the 3rd floor of Building B, conveniently near the back parking lot. The room had a connecting door to the adjacent room, through which conversations and noises were clearly audible, disrupting my stay. More alarmingly, I found MOLD throughout the room, especially in the bathroom—a serious health concern. After requesting a room change, I was moved to Room 448 on the 4th floor in the same building. While heading to the new room, I was TRAPPED in the hotel’s elevator for over 20 minutes. Despite calling the front desk twice and repeatedly pressing the EMERGENCY BELL, I received no assistance, which was distressing and felt UNSAFE. The elevator eventually opened on a random floor, forcing me to carry my luggage up the stairs.

The new room was no improvement. It also had MOLD near the AC unit and on the walls, and the closet was BROKEN, so I kept my belongings in my luggage, never feeling settled. The poor condition of both rooms made me consider leaving, but as I was traveling alone and only needed a place to sleep while visiting theme parks, I stayed.

The “continental breakfast” was another letdown. The first day offered PLAIN bread with no butter, waffles with no syrup, nearly ROTTEN oranges, and Frosted Flakes with milk. The juice machine dispensed watery apple and orange juice. On the second day, grape jelly and margarine were added, but still no butter, syrup, eggs, bacon, or substantial options—just carbs and sugar. For a budget hotel, I understand cost-cutting, but breakfast should be done properly or not offered at all.

Additional issues included a shower that took 2-3 minutes to reach a warm temperature and a lack of transparency with the $100 security deposit. The hotel claims it’s a hold, but they don’t provide a receipt, which feels unprofessional. The shuttle service to Universal Studios, Epic Universe, and Disney’s Epcot is inconvenient, with a single departure around 10 a.m., arriving 1.5 hours after park opening when lines are long, and an early 6 p.m. return.

On a positive note, the hotel’s location near Universal Orlando is convenient, and they offer a late checkout for $25 until 3 p.m. However, the moldy rooms, broken amenities, subpar breakfast, and elevator incident overshadow these minor benefits. I’m giving this hotel 2 stars solely for its price and location. If you need a cheap place to sleep near Universal and can tolerate mold, poor service, and a lackluster breakfast, this might suffice. Otherwise, I’d...

We booked this so-called "resort" for our Universal family vacation and it was nothing like advertised. The pictures online are completely misleading this is not a resort, it's a run-down motel When we arrived around 9pm, they charged me an unexpected $100 deposit for my service dog. I didn't mind paying, as its a deposit, I get it back. But, beware this was never disclosed ahead of time. We checked into the room and were immediately disgusted. The room was filthy: dirt and grime in every corner, a sticky floor that clearly hadn't been mopped, garbage left in the trash can, and old food in the broken mini fridge The beds were just two full-size beds crammed together, not the "queens" they claim. Picture, you can roll over and be in the next bed. The bedding was thin, stained, and worn out. The pillows weren't even real pillows -just folded blankets shoved into zippered cases. The box spring fabric was ripped and hanging, covered in dust. Only one outlet worked in the entire room, and it was buried under a desk. The door looked like it had been kicked in more than once and the lock was barely functional To make matters worse, I saw two live roaches crawling behind the headboard, along with several dead ones that hadn't even been cleaned up. Completely unacceptable. When I went to the front desk to complain, I was told the manager wasn't available and wouldn't be until 8-9am - but we had park tickets and couldn't waste hours waiting. The hotel also refused to answer calls from Expedia to confirm we wanted to check out and go somewhere else to have the days were not staying refunded. By this time it was after midnight and got nowhere with the front desk. We were stuck there. We kept all our luggage in the car so we didnt take any pests home with us. The next morning, the manager still wasnt there and we had to get to universal. I spent 3 hours at the park trying to get hold of a manager and arguing between the hotel and Expedia while at Universal Studios instead of enjoying the park. I had to pay out of pocket and book another hotel for 2 days. Finally, Expedia got hold of the manager around 10:30am and she finally said we could be refunded for the days we weren't staying. But, would take 5-7days to go back to my account. I'm still waiting on the $100 service dog deposit refund. This was the worst travel experience I've ever had. The property is dirty, unsafe, and completely misrepresented online. Do not waste your money here - travelers beware.

Trying to post pictures of the conditions and pest infestation their website is not allowing to post...

We chose this place from booking.com because it was affordable, in a great location, included a complimentary breakfast, and was rated a 7 overall.

Positives: The lobby is actually quite cute and the front desk guy and woman were super friendly and kind.

Neutral: Booking.com let us select a preference for lower or upper rooms, so I selected a preference for a higher room. We were given room 102 on the ground floor. That was okay, the woman at the front desk seemed to be in training, so we did not blame her for not acknowledging that request.

Negatives: We decided to get set up in our room and go find some fun on International Drive for a few hours. When we walked into our room, we were greeted by an intense smell of mildew. We knew it was bad, but we were only in the room long enough to set our stuff down and pick out our sleeping arrangements, so we did not know just how strong the smell was. We got a room with two queen beds for two of us with the idea that we could each have our own bed to sleep in with plenty of space for each of us to feel comfortable and well-rested. Unfortunately, the bed on the right side of our room was clearly not cleaned and there were crumbs and dirt on the sheets. We ended up using our own blankets and pillows (because we did not trust the sheets of the bed on the left either) and sharing the bed on the left. We went out for the evening and got some food to eat when we got back to the motel. Being in the fresh air for the day really made us aware of how strong and unbearable the mildew smell in our room was. If the room was not non-refundable, we definitely would have left and found somewhere else to stay (in fact, even with the room being non-refundable, we looked for other places in the area but it was too late at night for anything to have any availability). The beds were squeaky and you could feel the springs through the mattress. The ceiling in the left corner of the room also looked to have some water damage. We slept pretty poorly with shirts over our noses to try to block out the smell. Didn't wake up in time for breakfast.

Final Thoughts: It's a very affordable place and we felt safe in the area. Customer service seems pretty great and they do have some nice amenities. If you are okay with these conditions, just need a place for the night, and you know what you're getting into, it's fine. We were not aware, nor okay with what we ended up with and would have left and gone somewhere else in a heartbeat. The place has potential, but it needs some work in the cleanliness and...